A video encoder compresses video information so that more information can be sent over a given bandwidth. The compressed signal may then be transmitted to a receiver that decodes or decompresses the signal prior to display.
3D Video Coding (3DVC) refers to a new video compression standard that targets serving a variety of 3D displays. 3DVC is under development by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). At present, 3DVC is built based on the latest conventional video coding standard, High Efficient Video Coding (HEVC), which is planned to be finalized by the end 2012.
The Multiview Video plus Depth (MVD) concept is often used to represent the 3D video content, in which a number of views and associated depth maps are typically coded and multiplexed into a bitstream. Camera parameters of each view are also typically packed into the bitstream for the purpose of view synthesis. One of the views, which is also typically referred to as the base view or the independent view, is typically coded independently of the other views. For the dependent views, video and depth can be predicted from the pictures of other views or previously coded pictures in the same view. According to the specific application, sub-bitstreams can be extracted at the decoder side by discarding non-required bitstream packets.